It is imposable to live in Boston…and particularly since I installed that large directional rotatable antenna on my roof and able to get everything high quality from Rhode Island to New Hampshire. The only problems that I see… is the hard drive space. Now, I am at 370GB space used and it keeps growing. Do you remember a week or two ago I wrote an article about my vinyl setups? Since then I did not even turn it on and was running my FM and Lavry’s recoding gear….

This weekend has been wonderful.

Saturday morning I eventually found strength to sit down and to listen to a treat of a life-time. I have guy who owns a stunning live recording of Kurt Masur’ with Chicago SO performing Shostakovich’s Fifth in June 1988. This recoding never was made available in any media format but it is absolutely the best and the most shocking Shostakovich’s Fifth that I ever herd (among probably 3-4 dozens). Over the course of couple year I was trying my guy to make a copy of this recording to be more or less acceptable quality but he never did. Eventually I did convinced him and this week I received the first and the only raw transfer, no processing and no editing, from the original open reel aircheck tape. (I even sent him my UltraDisk CDRs) Wow!!! Eventually I got THIS performance of the performances at the level of quality that I feel it deserves! I listened all 4 movements (it is live and there are no breaks in there) and then one more time the last movement. What the shame that this performance never seen wide public! What is in the head of the Morons who keep publish the countless Shostakovich’s Fifth that sound like wet dog….

On Saturday after lunch the WHRB’s Metropolitan’s live broadcast of Massenet’s Manon with Renée Fleming, Massimo Giordano, Jean-Luc Chaignaud, Julien Robbins conducted by Jesús López-Cobos. It was not great performances but some moments were very good. Not to mention the always phenomenal post-MET WHRB’s program. It was told that MET live broadcast is herd by 11.000.000 radios listeners around the world. Well, the WHRB’s post-MET program is way more interesting that the MET broadcast themselves and it is available live on internet for the folks who do not have a privilege to live in Boston. The next Saturday, April 15 it will be Donizetti’s Don Pasquale with Netrebko. Tune on the Internet after the MET’s broadcast (from 1.30PM to ~4.30PM) and you might share my excitement about having the WHRB in town.

Today, on Sunday WGBH broadcasts live from my local Shubert Theatre Boston Lyric Opera's production of Verdi's La Traviata. I’m not a big fan of the Boston Lyric orchestras and the cast that they bring to the production. They seldom deliver a performance that I like and I. Although do record them frequently, but I practically never keep those recordings. However, the quality of the local “live” broadcasts is nothing short of stunning. The Shubert Theatre is in a way small theatre with very comfortable stage for a pair of microphones. The local lives broadcasts are not the same as frequently with compression MET’s broadcast and not the same as US’s or European’s delayed syndicated broadcasts. The local “live” have zero compressions and the sound that I am getting in room is absolutely the best sound or redaction that I can get from any media. It is worth for any audio person to hear any complex chorus peace live broadcasted (or recorded on Larvy) from Shubert Theatre in order to get a reference how sound REPRODUCTION might be. What is particularly funny audio-wise is to hear the none-compressed Verdi via an amplifier with 6E5P as a driver. The Verdi’s change of tempos and dynamic is a beautiful match for the 6E5P’s “dynamic viscosity” and “own dynamic brain” and the 6E5P-armed Milq does real wonder with the Shubert Theatre’s sound.

Tonight, Sunday evening is another fantastic treat from WHRB. It will be the much discussed Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde with Domingo, Stemme, Fujimura, Pape, Bär, Holt, with Pappano leading the Orchestra and Chorus of the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden. This broadcast will be from EMI disck and from what I head it was very very very seriously recorded and performed. I never heard this performance and am very much look forward to hear and to record it.

First, the Fifth: The first movement is indeed a stunner, nothing comes close. For the rest, I can line up competition. But no matter! The "live" aspect trumps all.

The Met, indeed, had its moments but was not a keeper.

The Traviata was terrific! Even over my car radio, where I was constrained to hear most of it, the music and the sound came straight at you. Far better it was, than even the Met's performance a couple weeks ago. And who was that woman from Moscow? [Please, please download the file so you'll have it permanently.]

I too was in anticipation of the Tristan, notably because of Domingo. Nor was I disappointed... in Domingo! The rest of it, I could leave. Alas WHRB had the compressor on so there's no telling how much my dislike was due to its robbing the music of dynamic expression.

But Romy, you missed a Boston broadcast highlight: The BSO, Raphael Fruehbeck de Burgos, Gil Shahan and Mozart -- both Friday and Saturday. The Serenade that opened the program was absolutely the best Mozart this Mozart-resistant orchestra has even turned out.

Far better it was, than even the Met's performance a couple weeks ago. And who was that woman from Moscow? [Please, please download the file so you'll have it permanently.]

I recorded them both. Both MET and the Boston Lyrick’s performances are different, both have own moments. MET’s orchestra was more dramatic and less shallow then Boston but the Shubert Theatre’s pit never was a good sounding place. The Violetta was sung by Moscow-born Dina Kuznetsova. She lives somewhere in Midwest and I know little about her. About the downloading the file. I recorded it 24/88. Would you like to have the entire few gigs of raw file or do you want me to downsample it for you to 16/44 PCM? I did find the ways to burn nowadays quite good sounding CDs, still the 24/88 would be the best.

clarkjohnsen wrote:

I too was in anticipation of the Tristan, notably because of Domingo. Nor was I disappointed... in Domingo! The rest of it, I could leave. Alas WHRB had the compressor on so there's no telling how much my dislike was due to its robbing the music of dynamic expression.

Yes, I did record it but I was not able to listen it during the broadcast. This morning I played it and was under impression that they broadcast it not from CD but from MP3 copy. They did it with Onegin a few months ago. What the jerks!

clarkjohnsen wrote:

But Romy, you missed a Boston broadcast highlight: The BSO, Raphael Fruehbeck de Burgos, Gil Shahan and Mozart -- both Friday and Saturday. The Serenade that opened the program was absolutely the best Mozart this Mozart-resistant orchestra has even turned out.

Well, now you are being a jerk. I did not know bout it and how difficult for you would be shot me an email informing me about the upcoming live broadcast? That would enable me to record it.

"MET’s orchestra was more dramatic and less shallow then Boston." Well I'll give you that certainly! But the Lyric's was a truly Verdian sound, not easy to achieve.

"Would you like to have the entire few gigs of raw file or do you want me to downsample it for you to 16/44 PCM?" Yes, please. How would I play 24/88?

"...under impression that they broadcast it not from CD but from MP3 copy." That's how compression sounds, whether analog or digital. Hate it!

"How difficult for you would be shot me an email informing me about the upcoming live broadcast?" Good grief! The schedule has been published for nearly a year, I assume anyone who's interested will have one.

However: Next week Fruehbeck de Burgos does the Belioz Requiem. Shopuld be good!

First, the Fifth: The first movement is indeed a stunner, nothing comes close. For the rest, I can line up competition. But no matter! The "live" aspect trumps all.

Hm, I would not name the only first movement. I think the second and the last movements, and patricianly the LAST Movement were nothing then stunning. BTW, the entire evening was phenomenal. That evening opened with the Britten’s “Simple Symphony for Strings” Op4. Masur and CSO were ammasing. The second movement of the Simple Symphony was in the best tradition of the Marvinsky’s third movement of the Tchaikovsky IV. Then, there was the Hayden’s “La Reine de France”. Clark, this Hayden was like NOTHING else! If you head somebody plays the first moment of the 85th Symphony like the Bruckner’s Ninth second movement (actually there are some similarities in phraseology) then you head what Kurt Masur did with Hayden. I will put the first part of that concerto on your disk as well.

Rgs,The cat

PS: BTW, I juts converted the Verdi from 24.88 to 16/44 and lost a huge amount of “sound”…

It is coming Friday, this will be fun. We have manatee
1:30PM concert with BSO under Andris Nelsons. It will be Bruckner 6. I am not
so kind with the Six symphony but Amy said that it will be Bruckner in Boston
and I should not even to think to miss it. Well, she has a point. Then we run
to my office to change Amy and at the same day evening she plays with Boston Philharmonic
Mahler’s Resurrection in the same Symphony Hall. That will be so much fun! The key
is to figure out who will be watching the kids on Thursday nigh. If It will be
her then then she has a danger to fall asleep during the performance but it is
will be no danger as it will be 6 violas, one more or one less is not a big
deal. If I watch the kids on Thursday night and I fall asleep then the whole concert
will be lost and the damage will be the most
critical….